Released a year after the game proper, Artorias of the Abyss was included in the PC "Prepare to Die" edition of the game, and released later on consoles.

So far, only one commenter has showed up on my Artorias threads complaining that the content was "cut from the original game" and that From Software is nickel-and-diming its customers.

For my part, the many new hours of gameplay were worth every penny, though the black dragon Khalameet is one of the only bosses that made me think the game might be just a tiny bit too hard at times. My goodness, what a boss fight.